“I was strong-willed,” he said. “I was extremely difficult to play against. Determined to carry my part of the team’s game to improve our chances to win the game. I enjoyed the harder parts of the games and the harder parts of the season.”

What he didn’t say was that no player before him, or since, delivered those qualities game in, game out for the length of his 16 seasons with the team, which included 1,160 regular-season games - eight as captain - and 182 playoff games, which brought home five Stanley Cups and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1979.